


Howling that was left uninterrupted

by TFALokiwriter



Series: Howling [2]
Category: Lost in Space (TV 1965)
Genre: A visit to hell, Alpha Centauri - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Future Fic, Gen, Guilt, Horror, Mild Gore, Post-Episode: s03e13 Two Weeks in Space, Regret, gee I hope so!, weird as a LiS episode?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:28:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22903996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TFALokiwriter/pseuds/TFALokiwriter
Summary: This time, the howling wasn't part of Will's nightmare.
Series: Howling [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1646221





	1. Camping on Gamma

It took a hour to get to the campsite. A long hour that Will carefully watched pass by him by trickling on watching the landscape change before his eyes alongside the window. It was strange to be out camping with his father for the first time in many years. It was strange to be doing this on another planet as though it were Earth in a different place. The Chariot finally parked at the designated coordinates.

The men assembled their camping site in little less than a hour. A good sized fire pit was assembled for their bonding experience. Even the chairs were taken out then set side by side with the Chariot parked close beside them and their sleeping bags were set by their sides. The men unpacked metal rods, chocolate, and the bag of marshmallows. They cooked their marshmallows over the burning fire.

"Dad, remember seven years ago when Doctor Smith died?"

John lowered his stick out of the fire pit. 

"What about him?" John asked as he allowed the marshmallow to cool.

"When I was a kid, I had a nightmare the night that he died." Will said.

"How much of a nightmare?" John grew concerned.

"The one in which he died." Will said as he finished twirling the bit of his white marshmallow. "I heard this frightened howling in the background as he went away."

"What---what _kind_ of howling?" John asked.

"Wolf howling." Will replied. "And then, once he died before my eyes, it was quiet. Deathly quiet. The kind of quiet that has lingered around me when I am alone and I feel like I am alone but I know that I am not." Will paused as John paled with his attention on the fire pit then lifted his attention upon his son listening attentively. "Some days I expect him to come walking out of thin air and approach me asking why I am sulking. Most days, I am disappointed. "

"You feel ready to talk about seeing the way that he died?" John asked.

Will shook his head, closing his eyes, wincing at the memories that crossed his mind.

"I think I won't ever be." Then Will added. "I haven't heard that kind of howling since then."

Will set his marshmallow on to the chocolate in the silence between them as the professor searched for the answer.

"How about we do some howling, Will?" John suggested. "Father and son howling."

Will turned his head toward John then grew a smile.

"We haven't done that since we went camping when I was. . like eight?"

"More like seven." John said.

Will looked toward the sky, searchingly, looking back at fonder memories.

"Before we were selected." Will looked toward his father. "Before the last patch of forest was torn down for a housing complex."

"Better now than ever." John grinned. "How about you start, Will?"

Will grinned then was the first to howl and John was the second member to howl. They heard distant howling then turned in the direction of it wearing grins. The local wolves were in the distance keeping watch over their territory singing along to what father and son were doing. They did this for awhile then stopped, cackling, giggling, and beginning to silently laugh with tears that stung their eyes. 

They eventually stopped howling then it was Will who took out his guitar from behind placing it along his side as he wiped off the tears. It was a few moments that were needed for them to regain their composure and these moments were taken. They had their chocolate sandwiches and ate them in the night. It was Will who picked up his guitar then put it on to his lap and began to strum the strings. And they went on to sing campfire songs.

John was the first to stop singing, briefly, as he looked up toward the sky watching fireballs falling from the sky landing directly into the forest. Meteorite storm, John noted to himself. Suddenly, the fireballs crashed at their campsite. John was the first to get up then make a run for the Chariot and Will went into the forest using it as his shield with his hand clutching on to the guitar. Will used the guitar as his shield and heard the sound of the roar of Gamma's land being disturbed.

Will smelled smoke then turned in the direction of where it was coming from and looked on spotting a staircase leading below that was a deep red with a bright orange highlighting the lower steps and the dark bricks leading away from the brighter tint of it. The smoke was a hue of red that approached out of it. Will spotted several bright red marbles that were glowing around the stairs. He dropped the guitar looking on in shock of what laid ahead of him as John hid behind the Chariot. Suddenly, the stairs popped away and the only thing left were the marbles.

Will knelt down then took out his handkerchief and held it up to his eyes observing it for a moment. Will looked up toward the sky searching for any more specimens and found the sky to be a dark blue canvas. There were no more fireballs that he could see in the distance heading down planet side then he stood up to his feet and turned in the direction of the campsite with his eyes lowered on the marble that felt odd. It had a strange vibe to it. As if it were something lacking in love, kindness, or any kind of qualities that ashed away the feeling of that it was satanic.

"It's over, dad." Will said.

John slowly approached his son's side.

"What are those things?" John said.

"Doesn't appear to be meteorites." Will said.

"Will, get the survey bag." John said. "And the gloves."

Will went back into the Chariot then took out the brown bag and returned to his father's side slipping on gloves.

"Here they are."

Will handed a pair of gloves to his father then they began to collect the fallen space marble. They collected it into the bag until the sights of the red balls around the camp site were not able to be seen around them. John yawned and so did Will once putting away the bag back into the Chariot. And they returned into the Chariot then slipped into their sleeping bags in the front seats. John started to chuckle then turned toward the younger man.

"Hell of a camping trip, huh?" John raised his brows.

Will grinned.

"Could have been worse." Will said.

"How could it have been worse, Will?" John asked.

"Could have been a army of space gargoyles going after us because Doctor Smith stole something from them shortly before his death."

John was the first of them to snick, cackle, and laugh as Will followed not that long after he started.


	2. Day of the Jupiters

John finished explaining the following morning regarding what had been found at the camping site to the major upon his return to the Jupiter 2. Don was quiet as he processed the facts at its core then looked down toward the sack of marbles and slid on a gardening glove. Don took the small ball out of the knapsack and held the ball up in mid air studying it.

"What is it, John?"

"Space marbles." John said.

"Has to be children toys." Don said. "Thrown out for extra measure."

"They seem to be completely useless." John acknowledged, holding a marble up, staring at it with intent. "But," he turned his hand over opening his hand up. "there isn't any stains, no bruises, no sign of a crack on them."

Don put the object back inside of the knapsack.

"Peculiar." Don said.

"Or, space marbles must be built for this kind of landing."

"Do you feel like that could be the case?"

"We have seen many children play things and things we thought were play toys for children but were not." John reminded. "Electronic horses with artificial intelligence for starters." He shook his head. "Just to be on the safe side I like for these to be quarantined for the initial month of the millions coming here."

"Speaking of whom." Don said. "They should be here at any minute."

"Any minute?" John's brows rose.

"Any minute." Don said.

"And that's why everyone else is staring at the sky." John said.

"What did you think they were doing?" Don tilted his head.

"Cloud gazing." John admitted.

"Me too, at first." Don said.

"Let's join the others!" John grinned then put the knapsack into the lab and came back out to join the major. "Today is a very momentous day for the mission. Did you get the champagne out?"

Don revealed the champagne from behind his back and put it on to the table. 

"Got it out this morning after breakfast." Don tapped on the lid to the champagne.

"You deserve a promotion for waiting for this day." John said.

"More than one promotion waiting for a window to Alpha Centauri." Don said. "The aliens that have came here trying to claim Alpha Centauri as theirs? Aliens who tried to live here long term and harm our environment? Those sword duels that you had to be part of and I had to keep my out on the foe's team for cheating? Everything that we have been through for the last five years? That's promotion material!"

John pressed a button then was the first to descend down the stairs joining his family and watched as silver disks appeared out of the sky. The family broke out into cheers watching humanity join them toward the places that had been set up for them as residential areas. Maureen began to grow tearful watching second line of Jupiters join them filling the landscape as John wrapped his arm around her waist drawing her close to him.

The Robinsons waved at the people arriving to Alpha Centauri then shared hugs with each other as they began to cry. Penny cried the hardest then was cradled by Judy in her arms as John and Maureen looked on proudly watching the mass of Jupiters joining them on Gamma.

Will grinned watching the legs of each Jupiter descend down as high pitch wails belonging to the engines echoed filling the air of the land mass. Will looked toward his side and visualized his old friend alongside Robot crying then denying it with, _'Just got something in my eyes, my dear boy.'_ Will flicked off his tears as he lowered his head then agreed with his imaginary specter that vanished.

"Me too."


	3. Space marbles lead to

It was a month after the Jupiters landed and everyone became comfortable in their respective plot of land with the phone lines connecting to the small ports that were revealed with a press of a button underneath the Jupiters. Will watched as history happened before his eyes and Robot became occupied with the task of Environmental and Family defense task force.

He watched as his family split off into different tasks becoming immersed with the crowd of people that had came to Gamma. 

Millions of people that brought along their problems, their emotional baggage, their hopes, and their dreams for the future.

* * *

"Dad, can I test the space marbles?"

Will caught his father exiting the cabin that was shared with his mother.

"It has been a month since we got them and nothing has happened, so I can't see how it won't hurt." Then John's features darkened. "Will, if anything turns out wrong---"

"I will abandon it and leave it untouched." Will replied. "I got the drill."

"Alright." John nodded.

"Where is it?" Will asked.

"Second cabinet in the lab underneath the telescope." John said.

"Thanks, dad." Will said. "I will keep you posted with my radio."

"How about you take Robot?" John asked.

"No, Robot is pretty busy handling a GUNTER model problem and trying to make them understand they are not going to be wiped if they keep up their shenanigans."

"The Richards and the Dillies?" John asked. "They are having a problem again?"

Will nodded with a smirk.

"That family." Will confirmed.

"Handful those machines are." John shook his head. "Keep screaming danger and driving that family's representative up the walls." he winced at the meeting that flashed across his mind. "Whoever programmed them was having a bad day."

"And you?" Will asked.

"I have to stand a few more hours of debates regarding being hospital to aliens." John said. "I will see you tonight."

"Might not see me tonight," Will went to the lab and returned with the knapsack. "These deserve extensive field tests."

"I envy you so much, Will." John said. "Very."

Will grinned then turned away going toward the doorway and pressed the button.

"See you later, dad!" Will descended down the stairs.

Maureen came out of the shared room and joined John's side.

"Now, he is off to have his own adventures." Maureen said. "I can't but see him as a little boy."

John looked toward Maureen then clenched on to her hand that was set on his shoulder.

"We are all children, darling." John said.

"But, he is the most vulnerable." Maureen said. "He hasn't been doing children tasks since he was a child."

"Will has been mature for as long as I remember him." John said. "I am sure that whatever waits for him with his surveys will be long and boring."

"He will be so disappointed." Maureen shook her head in amusement.

"That is life when you have something that doesn't work." John said. "Time that he becomes familiar to it."

"The failures," Maureen said. "I can't imagine how they would be for him. But I can," She sighed, watching the door close, then lifted her attention up toward him. "Who knows? They may be energy conduits."

John nodded in agreement.

"Energy conduits, the first discovery after colonization of Gamma, that would be triumphant for a Robinson." John said, proudly.

The couple laughed and walked off toward the galley.

* * *

Will boarded his electrical cycle, packed with supplies and equipment all for the name of science, latched the helmet on, and observed the community for one last time. He slid the helmet down then sped out for the area ahead of him as it revved with him in tow. He watched the Jupiters retreat until he were back in a field of grass with wildlife after a couple two hours of driving then he parked the electric cycle and parked it alongside a boulder. The area was full of tall boulders far as the eye could see for his view.

Will took out a marble from the knapsack then chucked the marble against the ground.

The same stairs from earlier appeared before him. 

"Ah ha, my hypothesis was right." Will jotted down on to his notepad then shifted it into his pocket.

Will took in a big breath then exhaled.

"Let's go!"

Will proceeded descended down the stairs after putting on his backpack and began his journey down with determination in his eyes. Will bolted down the stairs that felt long and treacherous with each step that he took. The temperature arose around him with each step that meant certain implications as steam came up further to his level.

He went deep and deeper into the underground. Curiosity was in him and it had to be explored in full. He jotted down on the notepad after slipping it out regarding his experiment. Will looked around spotting carvings in the wall and a gate that awaited ahead of him across from the staircase that was made of stone. He took out his notepad taking even more detailed note then put it into his pocket.

Will shifted in the direction of what he came from.

Facing the bright blue sky with the clouds and cooler weather.

Will turned away from the stairway then came to the final step.

"One small step for man," Will said. "One giant leap for science."


	4. the deep abyss of heat

Will landed on the heated ground then proceeded to walk forward toward the gate. It wasn't just made of stone, it was made of brimstone, with design that stood out to his eyes similar to gargoyles with horns and snarls that weren't being done alone. There were even designs of snakes on the stone that had torches on some of the pillars. He admired the carvings and how well aged they were in the strange place. He turned around facing where he came that was surrounded by smoke clouding the area behind it and around it. Will shifted himself to face the future ahead of him once more.

Will walked toward the doorway of what he had began to be completely convinced of what it was. The certainty became solidified in his mind regarding what laid behind the dark gates once he stopped in front of it. He reached a hand out then touched the gate. Will yanked his burning hand then blew at it. He came to the gated entrance then knocked on it lightly, with his hand in a handkerchief, once that was done the hand was lowered. A older man in dark green robes appeared with a alien appearance.

"What do you want?"

"I am here to ask if this is Hell."

"It is."

"Can you search for a name for me, please?"

"Ask away and I will see if your requested person is here."

"Doctor Smith." Will said then helpfully supplied. "First name Zachary. Born in the 1950's. Raised by Maude Smith and Thaddus Smith." The alien man pressed buttons on a large arcade machine that displayed ancient text. "They may be on the parent section of the file."

"Oh!" The gatekeeper said. "He is here."

"I like to see him."

"Here to stay?"

"Just here to visit."

"This way."

"Okay."

"Here to visit."

"Just for that."

"This way,"

"What did he do?"

"He did something that he feels he should be punished for extensively."

"I can't imagine what he feels is worth going down here for."

"People have their guilt."

"He doesn't strike me as the kind of man who stays guilty over one tiny thing."

The gatekeeper eyed at the younger man. 

"Who are you? You are not on the list."

"My name is Will Robinson." Will said. "Few people call me William."

"Here we are." the gatekeeper opened the door. "I will keep the door open until you leave."

"Then you will close it after I leave Hell."

"Precisely."

"Okay."

Will turned in the direction of the simmering threshold that showed a barren landscape. He walked through the doorway and looked around as he felt the heated air brush against his face. He walked on through the landscape jotting down on his notebook regarding his fingers then looked on as the sand dunes retreated to reveal a barren land decorated in boulders and rock towers looming above him. And Will went on.

* * *

The Richards and the Dillies GUNTER's were in the holding cell kept apart from each other much to Robot's disappointment. Robot's helm twirled as he put in a command. In another moment, a large arm in each cell yanked out their sensor tapes then slid them into the compartment. Robot turned away then his faded orange claws clacked against the computer keyboard. 

Robot's arms yanked back into his chassis then scoured through the programming as planted in their memory tapes. There was nothing wrong at all in their programming and they were operating just fine; they just seemed to strangely hate each other's guts for no reason at all and believed the other endangered the other. The B-10's were different on aspect; one was designed to be a navigation machine and the other remained to be what it was.

Robot put in the command to return one of them their sensor tapes and approached the navigation model.

"Why do you dislike the other so much, Richard 'Richy' Robot?"

"The environmental model . . . he is suspicious." Richy Robot replied.

"How?" Robot asked.

"The way that he stares at me." Richy Robot said. "I can feel him following me. His sensors tagging after me."

"Everyone's sensors are 'tagging after' everyone." Robot said.

"You do not compute." Richy Robot replied. "He wants me gone."

"Why?" Robot prodded.

"Because I am better than him." Richy Robot replied.

"You are a subset of the GUNTER model." Robot replied. "This is not becoming of a GUNTER model."

"You do not understand--"

"Help me." Robot plead.

"He has told me that I am filling in the duty that a model of his should have." Richy Root said.

Robot's helm lowered.

"Ah, I believe I see." Robot replied. "Alpha Control had a disgruntled employee who programmed this unspeakable bias into your programming matrix."

"Affirmative." Richy Robot said.

Robot bobbed his helm up.

"You are a bubble headed booby thinking he is doing it on his _free will_." Richy Robot bobbed his helm up in alarm at the reply. "I will have this mess cleaned up in no time in your programming matrix by a close friend--" Robot stopped then began to amend his comment. "By the residential chief of programming on site."

"This does not compute." Richy Robot said.

"Elaborate."

"I detected emotions." Richy Robot said. "A very strong one." Robot's helm twirled as his helm bobbed up. "You are not friends with the chief of programming according to known records of your involvement with her." Robot was quiet. "You, elaborate, please."

"It was a slip." Robot said.

Robot wheeled out of the room then went into the supply closet and took out a handkerchief then blew his bubble into it.

* * *

It was three days and three nights later, with rations, tent being set up, as Will journeyed through the landscape until he came across what he was searching for. He came to a halt on the top of a sand dune with widened eyes. He spotted a hunched over figure sitting on a boulder surrounded by dehydrated grass, their head drooping, miserable, with their enlarged hands in their lap.

Will bobbed his head up then began to grin from ear to ear feeling precious warmth that sprouted from his heart and expanded to his chest filling areas that had once dried up even the part of his heart that had died a little when Smith left and regenerated that part. 

"Doctor Smith . . ." Will whispered softly to himself as his face brightened.

Will quietly walked toward the boulder as he felt a large smile sprouting on his face and his eyes started to water. Will felt the child inside of him was crying and so did he. The younger man used his sleeve to wipe the water off his eyes until it were all gone. As Will got closer, the tears stopped, he regained control over his feelings and his upset composure was tamed.

The figure looked exactly as how they had died. The fact haunted Will as he observed the tears in the uniform from the elbows, knees, and shoulders. What stood out the most was the tattered sleeves. The uniform showed signs of being well taken care for and well worn despite the signs of age that crept on to it's almost mint condition.

Will took small little steps approaching the whimpering older man feeling the world was about to break apart beneath him if he made a sound and surprised the older man. Let alone frightened the older man. Will had no desire to see his old friend be frightened by himself in a place designed for his specific torture. Will came to a halt by the older man's side.

"Doctor Smith?" Will started, softly, kindly.

"Go away, angel." Smith groaned.

"I can do many things, even the stupid things, that you ask of me but leaving you in Hell without a proper conversation isn't one of those."

The comment slowly started to sink as Smith rolled his eyes, froze, then his bright blue eyes flipped open.

"William!" Smith turned toward him as he slid off the boulder then became animated before Will's eyes. Smith jumped aside in shock then started to take a step forward then grinned as he clasped his hands into his lap and admired the younger man. "My, you have grown into a young man."

"You haven't even aged a day." Will said.

"Aged?" Smith asked, leaning back.

"Yes." Will nodded back at Smith. "Aged."

"Who says I have aged? Did that blasted gate keeper tell you that? It's a bunch of poppycock, William!" Smith waved his hand then folded his arms with a tilt of his head and lifted his antenna resting on his eyebrow ridges. "I can't hardly tell I have with the effects of the--" he wiggled his finger where a ring was supposed to be but it wasn't then his voice grew smaller and softer at the reminder of his demise. "--mattering ring."

"I can tell that you have aged, Doctor Smith." Will replied watching the antenna lowered then it was his turn to fold his arms --- this time looking down upon the now shorter man -- and lift his brow quite concerned and tilted his head. "Why are _you_ in the hot sun instead of a decent cold cave?"

"There isn't any nearby and my shoes are too worn out to make that travel." Smith gestured toward his feet and wiggled his toes. "Nor is there the appropriate source of water to make that travel." Smith grimaced looking aside.

"That is counter to living in your personal hell, Doctor Smith."

"My entire life made this hell, my dear boy." Smith smiled, sadly, then put his hands on the younger man's shoulders. "Ah, you died at a early age and decided to visit a old friend before you go to heaven and rejoin your family! How wonderful."

"I didn't die." Will replied.

"Then how did you get here?" Smith asked, baffled.

Smith took his hands off the man's shoulders then clasped them into his lap.

"These space marbles fell out of the sky a month ago and made a stairway to Hell appear with the falling."

Will took out a marble and held it out for the older man.

"Curious." Smith said, taking the marble and held it close to his eyes then stared at it in intrigue. "So you are exploring where it leads."

"I had a feeling." Will replied as Smith turned back toward Will. "I just needed to test it to be certain of it."

"A fine test."

Smith handed the marble back to Will and the younger man put it back into the bag.

"Doctor Smith, is the Jupiter 2 nearby?" Will asked.

"A shell of herself. A scrap heap. A shelter unable to fly." Smith reported. "She is too warm to be inside with all those holes in her in this season and when I do find myself in this season around the Jupiter 2; I go to a nice bitter and cold cave. "

"And are you alone?" Will asked.

"Have been since I finished my business." Smith said.

"Why did you wait for me by my bedside?" Will said. "I have banged my head for the last few years wondering _that_ and I don't have a answer to it."

"William, you know the answer to that." Smith said.

"But, you would have gone your separate way." Will said. "Why? Why?"

"To make sure you were stuck there." Smith walked around Will. "You were a stubborn little ninny back then."

Smith walked on ahead of Will then put his enlarged scaled covered hand on the warm rock beside him with his back to the younger man as he paused in his tracks lowering his head. Will watched the older man sulk.

The adventures they had before flashed across Will's mind in a fond and nostalgic light as he reflected over his determination to keep his family and his father's strong determination. Will tore his attention off the memory toward the man who was still standing still among the rock letting his hand remain on there as it began to burn. Slowly, Smith took his hand off the wall and clasped his hands together in his lap.

It occurred to Will the chain of events that would have happened had he died on the bed in the cavern. It would have gone something like this: _Getting up with Smith's help up to his feet once he took his final breath and hugged him then looked on in sorrow then back toward the women keeping themselves busy in the cavern until Penny noticed. Noticed how still that he was and how the sleeping bag refused to rise up along with his chest._

_Will and Smith going up the translucent blue steps up to the next level of existence side by side. Then Smith luring Will through the entrance way to Heaven and into the hands of two angels then turning around and walking on down the stairs leading out of Heaven leaving him behind. And Will would have been prevented from chasing after the older man as his ideal heaven became Hell itself._

Will took a few small tentative steps toward Smith slowly joining his side.

"Your parents nearly lost you forever a few months ago before then and I couldn't do that to them for good this time." Smith replied as Will joined his side then put a hand on the side of the man's shoulder. "I would trade my happiness for your family in a heart beat."

"Time may leave a scar behind but feelings don't change." Will said.

"You have done as you have intended," Smith said. "Time for you to return home."

"I told dad that I would be back in a few days." Will said. "I have packed plenty of water for this instance."

"You anticipated of this finding." Smith squinted.

"I did, Doctor Smith." Will admitted. "What with everything that you did in the last three years you were alive to get to Earth." Will took out a spare bottle then handed to Smith and the man tentatively took it from the younger man's hand. "Show me around?"

Smith sipped from the bottle then lowered it as he hummed fluttering his eyes close licking his lips then turned his attention toward Will.

"You have yourself a deal, William."

Smith grinned holding his hand out and Will took it with a equally big grin of his own.


	5. The shelter

Will and Smith traveled along the steaming landscape with little breaks taken with their primary destination in mind being the Jupiter 2. When they arrived, Will was at a loss for words at the ship that was exactly how the older man had claimed it was. It had became more of a run down shelter that was coated in rust, disjointed parts in the shape of triangles that it barely looked anything close to the Jupiter 2, and had several broken windows.

Will took a few steps forward getting closer toward the older man.

Smith turned toward the younger man, ruefully.

"She has seen better days." Smith said.

"Better days." Will echoed. "Looks like she has seen better years." Will looked down then frowned turning his gaze up toward Smith. "When was the last time you got new shoes?"

"They all wear out within weeks of being put on." Smith said. "Even after doing nothing."

"I brought improvised shoes." Will slipped out the shoes from his backpack and handed them over to Smith. "I got spares for myself."

"Clever as always, William." Smith said.

"Thanks, Doctor Smith."

Will slipped out of his boots and put on the spare sandals.

"This will make Hell a little more tolerable for the next eternity." Smith said. "Easily mendable!"

"How about we fix those holes in the hull?" Will asked.

"I tried." Smith winced. "The holes reappear days later. It is not worth fixing."

"What about the boots?" Will offered. 

Smith held his dark boots up with a frown and showed them to the younger man.

"Unrepairable." Smith replied. "Used duct tape and got my toes stuck in them."

"Doctor Smith. . . ." Will started raising his brows. "Did you forget to tape inside the shoe?"

"Course not!" Smith slipped his feet into the sandals and fell to the sand then wiggled his toes. "Ah, so good."

Will chuckled looking down upon Smith.

"I miss you." Will said. "Back in the land of the living."

Smith looked up toward Will.

"William, I am here." Smith took the man's offered hand and got up to his feet. "Shouldn't that matter?"

"It does." Will nodded back with a smile. "But, we can make what time we have."

"Indeed." Smith said, softly. 

"So," Will said. "Care to show me around?"

"I have moved plenty of things around," Smith started as Will followed the older man into the shelter. "I have to go to the caves when a bad storm comes in and starts to flood the Jupiter 2." Smith motioned toward the layered rust on the hulls as Will looked in awe. "My first rainstorm here was bad."

"How bad?"

"Look up, my dear boy."

Will did as requested then spotted the shattered glass dome.

"I had to break it in order to escape the hellish conditions of what were going to be my time in the season." Then Smith paused sucking in a breath then exhaled. "In the second year."

Will's attention snapped toward Smith in alarm.

"In the second year!" Will exclaimed in horrified. "How did you not drown?"

"I can't exactly drown in Hell, you see. ." Smith said. "It's designed to be a torture chamber."

"I see, Doctor Smith." Will replied. "You survived the first rain fall?"

"Flooding." Smith said.

"Alright, so you survived the first flooding because your personal Hell is surviving and suffering for it." Will said.

Will watched a small nod come from Smith.

"The debris from the planet and the Jupiter 2 would have trapped me against the wall as the first year. Being helpless, hurt, pinned against the wall with little to no hope is true Hell." Smith winged his hands together as he shook his head. "Pinned and stabbed by sharp objects with little chance of the pressure being relieved until the force against the shrapnel was gone for weeks isn't how I would like to spend eternity." Smith played with his trembling fingers as he relayed the memories. "Took me awhile to repair the uniform."

"Are you going to have the flooding, again?" Will asked.

"Already had the flooding this year." Smith said, somberly as his shoulders lowered. "Caught me by surprise." He cleared his throat with a sigh. "I was trapped in the bridge for quite awhile until I wiggled out and made it to safety in the mountains and hid in the tunnels where I had little contact with the monsters of my personal Hell."

He sweetened the truth over; being pinned under the fallen pieces of metal that he had replaced the hull with a scream and the waters tore through entrance way, parts of his internal organs aching, wiggling his way out, swimming toward the upper dome for freedom, bobbing up to the surface, becoming surrounded by crocodiles, resting on the galley table, using scrap metal to carefully paddle his way to the higher surface. The rest of the memories afterward were holding a makeshift torch as he traveled through the corridor trembling listening to the sound of insects and animal noise. Alone and frightened.

"What season is it, Doctor Smith?" Will asked.

"The dry season." Smith said.

"Does it have a name?" Will asked.

"Just the dry season." Smith replied. "There is the warm season -- the better season where it isn't too hot---, icy season, cold season, flooding season, and cosmic storm season."

"I see." Will said.

"I spend most of the flooding season in the mountains where the horrors of Hell reside." Smith shook his head with a wince. "Terrifying wildlife lurk there. Truly terrifying with pointy teeth, sharp claws, and disgusting appearances that I alone could not conjure up."

"But, your actions did."

"Yes, my actions did create these monsters." Smith admitted. "William, like a meal? We have been walking for several hours."

"I like a meal," Will said. "If you have the rations for it."

Smith picked up a rod then stabbed it into a moving blur and it shrieked then he held the medium sized rodent up with a grin.

"The one thing that my actions had designed my hell with is endless food but with no one to share it with." Smith said. "Materializes after I get it out. But, that is just non-food for a living being." he shook the dying creature. "This is actual food."

"Like a food synthesizer." Will said.

"Indeed, my dear boy." Smith replied with a grin as he nodded. "This way."

Will went to the elevator alongside Smith then the older man slid down a cable drawing the elevator car down to the lower decks.

"Doctor Smith, why don't you use the corridor down stairs?"

"There is coal on fire, spiders, cockroaches, snakes, all the likes!" Smith replied as the car came to the lower deck.

Will observed that the lower deck was full of sharp edges and too narrow room to reside in then looked on watching in surprise as his friend tugged the elevator car down. The car went down another deck of the shelter Jupiter 2 into the hole beneath. It was dark for a few moments as Will overheard the sounds of squeaking, hissing, and hooting. Smith kept on tugging down as the environment changed in temperature slowly but surely. Eventually, the car came into a bright room with torches hanging on the walls.

"And hah, here we are!" Smith announced. "The heart of my Hell."

Long cables echoed through the cavern. There were few kitchen equipment about the area even on a ledge that reminded Will of a bar including a small makeshift bed and toiletries. Will was the first to slide the barrier aside and walked on noticing the man had beds of fur and pieces of alien furniture left around the area. 

"Brrr, this feels cold." Will rubbed his hands together as Smith looked over toward him bobbing his head up.

"Cold?" Smith asked, befuddled. "I haven't really noticed."

"How?" Will looked toward Smith in bewilderment with saucer sized eyes. "How?"

Suddenly, Smith felt small and little compared to the shorter man looking up toward him.

"I am used to it." Smith replied.

Smith walked off to the food synthesizer device then chucked the large rodent inside.

"Doctor Smith, do you eat?"

Smith turned toward Will.

"I am a soul presenting myself the way I remember." Smith replied. "The way I had last seen myself on that fatal chase. I don't have bodily functions like you do. What pain I do feel is made by the sharp and destructive walls and furniture I made around myself that fell apart."

"Which is what the Jupiter 2 represents."

"Indeed."

"And your hunger is being social."

"You're catching on very quickly, my dear boy." Smith slid out a plate and glass from the machine on a tray then handed it off to the young man. "How are the family?"

"Doing wonderful given the circumstances." Will said as he was directed to the counter. "Doctor Smith, how about we do some exploring?"

"Can't hurt to have a new pair of eyes." Smith said. 

Will took off his boots and put on sandals.

"Since this is your hell, I should wear sandals as well." Will said. "Easy to put back together."

"Indeed!" Smith said and the duo laughed.

"Tell me," Will said. "Have others wandered into your Hell?"

"Aliens have." Smith said. "Turns out, my Hell is of failure. . . and I am the cause of most of them."

"Tell me about those adventures, Doctor Smith." Will requested. "And replenish the water supply before we go out exploring."

"Preferable for a living being." Smith said. "For the dead; the dead is unreliable in their perspective of the afterlife."

"It's tailor made for you." Will said. "That makes what you say the most reliable." he took a sip from the cup of water and put it aside then twirled a finger. "Start talking." 

And so Smith did. 


	6. Heat and feelings

They spent several hours exploring the landscape of the planet that Smith's entire life had created. Will admired the twisted and spiral trees that stood out against the fog of the forest they were going through side by side as the older man rehashed over tales. The tales earned several chuckles from the younger man that turned into giggles over the relaying of the events. Smith paid no heed to the younger man's reaction as he went on in a way that drew Will's laughter instead of his pity.

Smith picked off a orange then handed it over to the younger man by his side. Will peeled it open and observed how healthy, alive, and bright it appeared. Will looked around observing the dangling oranges in a otherwise unkind area that was in a season where water did not fall. He split off section after section then popped one after the other into his mouth being greeted by the most sweet liquid that he had the fortune of tasting as they went about their journey as the sky was turning to dark.

"William. . ."

"Yes, Doctor Smith?"

"I like you to remain in the Jupiter 2 for the night."

"Why? What are you going to do?"

"Walk around."

"Why don't I join you?"

"No, William." Smith shook his head. "I don't act like myself. I go around howling for hours and I am not in control." he turned hands over showing his palms then reached his hands gently laying them on to Will's shoulders. "You're alive. I am not." He walked toward a rock with a small sigh. "You need your sleep."

Will was quiet for a complete moment then started to chuckle, warmly.

"So the phrase the dead don't sleep really applies here." Will replied.

"It does." Smith nodded.

Will approached Smith then came into his field of vision.

"Are you going to be okay in the hot night?" Will asked, concerned.

Smith turned toward the younger man with a small smile of his own.

"In the dry season, it's always cold at night." Smith said. "A comfort that I enjoy."

"So this is all a simulation of being alive, except. . ."

"Except the wolf part," Smith nodded. "Very troublesome matter."

"Ick." Will said. "I never imagined your Hell to be this way. I imagined it . . . far differently."

"You imagined it to be lenient, my dear boy." Smith turned away plagued by guilt and regret.

"I did."

Smith lowered his head, ashamed, looking aside for a moment with a wince then looked up toward the younger man.

"Do you have any idea of where to sleep?" Will asked.

"The warmest part of the shelter is in the power core."

"How is that still working with everything being in ruins?" Will's brows hunched together, puzzled.

Smith smiled, widely, heart broken then the broken smile faded.

"One part of my hell is having hope but unable to act with it."

"Okay." Will followed Smith into the Jupiter 2 with his camping gear then was lifted down in the lift into the third deck that looked more intact then the rest of the Jupiter 2. Smith slid the barrier aside and Will walked out of it into the dark that was highlighted by the beaming white power core. "Looks in great shape compared to the rest. I didn't see it in the first go around."

"Because I hadn't turned it on back then." Smith replied. "There is enough room for you to rest in."

Will looked around observing the intact power core room and how roomy that it was.

"This wasn't half of a bad day." Will turned toward Smith with a grin.

"Hmm? How so?" Smith frowned, tilting his head, quizzically.

"Because I got to spend it with a friend." Will replied. "Good night, Doctor Smith."

Smith grew a small weathered smile back at the younger man.

"Good night night, William." Smith replied as he slid the barrier in front of himself.

Smith slid the lift up as Will came to the corner of the power core and slipped into his sleeping bag then fell asleep on instant.

* * *

"Doctor Robinson, where is Will?"

"He is out doing tests with the space marbles that crashed here a month ago." Robot's helm bobbed twirled as he listened intently. "Left with his electric cycle." She set the clothing of the family into the space washer then closed the lid and pressed the button that activated the process. "Busy being a scientist out there."

"I miss Will." Robot admitted as his helm raised

"So do we all." Maureen said. "Will is not a child anymore and he can take care of himself. Armed with a laser pistol . . . He has been very effective as his own body guard."

"Doesn't need my constant protection." Robot said. "Comes with his own danger alarm." Robot took out a synthesized handkerchief and blew his bubble into it.

"He can be a little oblivious." Maureen reminded.

"I feel old!" Robot wailed.

"So do I." Maureen patted on the back of his chassis.

"He has the children of the other colonists as friends," Robot said. "I feel that of lately. . ."

"That he has out grown you." Maureen finished.

"That it does." Robot admitted.

"Robot, we will never out grow you." Maureen reminded. "We can never _not_ need you to protect us."

"A touching comment." Robot whirred toward Maureen. "I believe you in that thought." He whirred toward the distance ahead. "I have long anticipated of this reality happening . . . But, now that Will programmed me with feelings."

Robot didn't finish for a complete moment. _No,_ Maureen amended, _couldn't_.

"I have feelings about it."

"What do you feel, Robot?" Maureen asked.

"I feel sad." Robot blew into the handkerchief.

"It is more weird on John and I to be among civilization." Maureen said. "The isolation did a number on us." She looked around scanning the field of Jupiters far as the eye could see that glint under the sun. "I feel that if I closed my eyes and opened them then I would find barren fields, desert, and little vegetation around the area."

She closed her eyes then reopened them staring on toward the landscape, smiled, lowered her gaze then turned her attention toward Robot.

"Even you and the children exploring the landscape with Doctor Smith, the men setting up the drilling rig, and us women doing chores."

Maureen continued on the subject.

"Some nights, I have nightmares about being lost." Her gaze fell distant for a moment as she looked off. "Dying without our fate being known by Alpha Control, the Jupiter still struggling to reach Alpha Centauri as a shell of herself, but you remaining behind and tell people that we _lived_ as episodic adventures."

Maureen fondly but sadly smiled at the after thought of what could have been and what almost _was_.

"Where did Will go?" Robot asked.

"Knowing Will. . ." She looked on the rocky path ahead of the Jupiter 2 then pointed on ahead. "that direction."

"Thank you, Doctor Robinson." Robot replied.

"Robot, make sure not to intrude on the experiment." Maureen warned. "It is very important to him."

"I will be certain to keep my distance away from the controlled experiment." Robot whirred toward Maureen. "I have learned from his very messy previous ones."

Maureen laughed watching Robot descend the path leading away from the Jupiter and their small plot of territory.

* * *

Will awoke that morning, slipped out of the sleeping bag, repacked it, then went to the upper deck using the lift that was left carelessly at his level. He tugged it up until he were back on the bridge. He went to the doorway of the shelter and gazed out observing the sky was lighting up and the moon was losing it's grip in the sky. Will paused in the center of the doorway listening to the sound of familiar howling.

Instead of being afraid, it made Will smile as he leaned against the corridor watching the sky lighten up until it were a bright blue theme on the sky. It was a experience that he had seen happen on many worlds (sometimes, the end result wasn't bright blue) as a space castaway. Will watched Smith return to the shelter dusting off his dark uniform that hadn't shown being disheveled much to the younger man's curiosity. Smith grinned coming forth into the shelter.

"Good morning,"

"Morning, Doctor Smith."

"You are awake bright and early. Had a nightmare?"

"All I had were good dreams," Will replied. "What was your last dream?"

"The last dream I had were being rich." Smith replied, simply. "Being called the savior of the mission regarding reaching Alpha Centauri in one go." he looked up toward the sky with his hands clasped together against his chess. "Oh, the misfortune. The misfortune."

"Have you explored the underground tunnels of your cavern?"

"To some extent after I get too hot." Smith replied. "The sandals are wonderful!"

Smith wiggled his large feet over Will's laughter.

"Didn't really break in Hell." Will said.

"Because these shoes are hell itself upon certain feet!" Smith replied.

"Guess that you can say it is a match made in Hell." Will commented as he looked up toward the older man.

"Match made in Hell is far more appropriate than any phrase regarding these sandals." Smith replied. "Let's explore the tunnels." He looked down toward a bundle beside him and grinned looking back up toward Will. "With a hearty meal for you."

Smith picked up a stick that had a large rabbit which had been stabbed through the chest and was quite motionless and a large piece of a cactus. And a small bundle of eating silverware kept together by some improvised string. Will and Smith went down to the tunnel in the lift as the meal was securely kept in a metal enclosed cage held by Will's hand around the hot wire. The wire became colder as they descended into the tunnel.

Once there, Will followed Smith into the kitchen then was shooed out into the dining section of the cavern by the older man. Smith carefully slid in the deceased owl. He proceeded to chop the cactus into pieces with precision and a blade. The older man pried off the small thorns from the cactus as Will watched the machine beep and whir then chuck out a plate with the well cooked featherless torso of the owl. Smith dropped the greens into a double joined metal container including the small owl. Smith spiced the meal up and handed it over to the living being.

"This way."

"Doctor Smith, why have you been wearing the same uniform for seven years?" Will sliced a portion off the chest of the deceased creature.

Smith turned his attention upon Will.

"What makes you think it's the same uniform?" Smith raised a antenna up slightly.

Will stared at the older man as his antenna brows raised at once.

"It's black, green, and purple." Will said.

"So?" Smith lowered the antenna brows.

"That was so seven years ago." Will said.

"Your style says it is still in style, William." Smith scoffed.

"Except, I am wearing a yellow dickie with a orange v-neck." Will said.

Smith looked back at his uniform then turned his attention up.

"It was originally all yellow but it slowly became what I had died in." Smith replied. "It happens to every outfit I put on in here." He tilted his head. "I thought the professor and the madame agreed on cool colors? William, there was only enough dark material for my kind of shirts for one person."

"We got enough material for dark shirts where we are." Will replied. "It's a family theme."

"Course, it is." Smith said. "This way."

"Wow," Will said, admiring the sculptures. "You must be very bored here."

"I improved my sculpting skill. . ." Smith played with his fingers, sheepishly. "a little."

"That's actually a lot." Will pointed toward a sculpture beside them that was highly detailed. "Look, you even gave the face of the sculpture more definite and unique human features." Smith looked over, passively, somberly toward the sculpture as Will looked on as if it were a master piece. "Judy would love your art work here." 

"By the time we clear this cave system, it may be cooler up there!" He winced looking toward Will. "If I seem to go away during the journey abruptly--"

"Then it's night time." Will said.

"Exactly." Smith nodded.

"I will set up camp and wait for you to catch up." Will said.

"However." Smith said. "I have plenty of johns set up every mile or so." Smith gestured on ahead of himself with a hand. "This may be my personal Hell but at least it has some hygiene products for potential mortal visitors."

"Potential mortal visitors?" Will asked.

"People get into Hell all the time, William." Smith said. "For many reasons."

"Greed, power, sacrifice." Will said. "I can just imagine those reasons clearly."

"There are many who come here for loved ones and ask my help to find them that I have neglected to tell you." Will chuckled at the older man's comment. "And you will have to do being without a shower for a while if you intend to spend the dry season here."

"How long is the dry season, Doctor Smith?" Will asked.

"Twenty-two days." Smith replied. "Today is day eighteen."

* * *

Robot was silent as he traveled through the landscape passing by the Jupiters as hours ticked by. After a few hours, Robot paused then whirred toward the edge of the city limits that was distant to his advanced sensors facing the heart of the city silently musing over what had been deemed implausible only half a decade ago.

He looked on in pride at the bittersweet accomplishment listening to the sound of nature around him full of birds, insects, and cooing from released chickens. It reminded Robot of a country side instead of a alien planet as a fox whished past him chasing after a rabbit. Robot turned away from Alpha Centauri City. Then he resumed on his way to the path. It didn't take him long to arrive at the destination and spotted the orange glowing stairway.

Robot looked over spotting the electric cycle close by then bobbed his helm up.

"Will!"

Robot remained by the stairway.

"Will!"

Robot loomed over.

"Will!"


	7. On the fritz

"Professor Robinson, your robot is on the fritz."

"Pardon?" John leaned against the door frame lifting his brow up then grinned as he recognized the figure. "Wayne. . . I should have known you would be here in the wee hours of the morning."

"I just got back from the rural areas." Wayne said. "He isn't right."

"What do you mean?" John asked.

"I found him beside your son's electric cycle and . . " Wayne said. "and he keeps calling for him."

"Keeps calling him?" John asked.

"Acting like there is some hole below him where your son is." Wayne said. "Frankly, that is quite odd for a GUNTER model."

"I will check it out." John said. "In the meantime, forget about it."

"Will do!" Wayne smiled.

"Is that all?"

"No. They got a new stipulation on the hospitality amendment."

"What is it?"

"Angels and demons." Wayne laughed. "Can you believe that? Alien versions of them."

"Unfortunately, I can, Wayne." John watched Wayne's face pale.

"They pulled a late nighter in adding that as a thing to discuss this morning." Wayne added with a shake of his head. "The bill of hospitality can't budge without that debate."

"Of all things to debate over. . ." John said. "Certain?"

"Very." Wayne said. "Otherwise the bill is quite sound and ready to be passed by the house of Jupiters."

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention." John thanked. "I will see you at the meeting at the central hub."

"No prob, professor." Wayne grinned then walked off.

John closed the door to the Jupiter 2 turning toward Maureen.

"Is Will in trouble?" Maureen asked, frightened but concerned.

"I don't know." John admitted. "But with some sleuthing around, we can get some light shed on Robot not moving from Will's EV."

"Why don't I go with you?" Maureen asked as she approached John. "I want to see this for myself."

"Get ready, Maureen said. "We will be going in the hour to check on them."

Maureen nodded then went for her morning uniform.

* * *

Smith and Will traveled about the tunnel system as the older man pointed toward certain sculptures and mentioned which ones were made him or by guests. Will's amusement faded as he saw the sculptures by the older man became twisted, darker, and more elaborate that was different compared to the more simplistic but innocent versions. The sound of a whimper caused Will to reach a hand out causing the older man to pause in his tracks.

"Doctor Smith, do monsters dwell in your tunnels?"

"As part of my self imposed Hell; most of the tunnels lead to large bodies of water with grass---"

"Do monsters go into your tunnels at any time?" Will corrected himself.

"From time to time." Smith said, casually. "Many times, I am ripped apart and/or disemboweled." Will turned his attention upon the older man in a moment of horror. "Somehow, I am regrown and my uniform is hardly damaged from the assault."

"Does that sound like a monster?" Will pointed on ahead of them.

Smith raised his head up and listened to the sound.

"No." Smith's brows hunched together. "It sounds more . . . Human. Genuine."

"Someone scared." Will said.

"You, stay." Smith directed as he raised his catching stick up in front of him though it were a weapon.

"Doctor Smith, it's just a frightened soul." Will said.

"The monsters are very good at mimicking people I used to know quite upset." Smith replied. "And perfectly good strangers."

"You haven't changed much since dying, Doctor Smith." Will replied with a chuckle as he shook his head.

"Being ripped apart alive is worse than the soul being mistreated in the Afterlife, my boy." Smith replied, softly. "If it is a harmless soul. . ." Smith grimaced at the potential situation then winced and turned toward the younger man. "l will return with the person in hand."

Smith slowly crept on ahead of the younger man as Will lagged behind.

Fog drifted through the tunnel that it clouded the man's figure to the young Robinson's hazel eyes as he waited patiently for the return.

Several minutes transpired waiting in the dark tunnel that had several torches hooked in alongside the walls not just the heart in which was a relief from the heat above them. He watched a taller figure including a short figure return out of the fog. They came closer to him as he watched the shape of the spear stand out to his eyes (but it was lowered) with the older man sticking close to the figure beside him.

Will became relieved observing the new comer wasn't a monster. It was a androgynous humanoid that looked man at one glance but in second glance; appeared to be a woman who was stark naked. Will lifted his gaze up meeting the newcomer's gaze and observed how strange it was compared to all the aliens they had met. Her brown skin was decorated in ridges and bumps that reminded Will of a rock sculpture that was covered in texture.

"Back to the heart of the cave, then?"

"Indeed." Smith replied.

"I packed a spare heavy blanket for something like this." Will lowered the backpack down and unpacked the heavy weighted blanket, set the backpack on his shoulders, then set the blanket on the shoulders of the strange. "This should make you feel better."

"Thank you."

The stranger slipped the blanket around their figure as they were guided down the tunnel in silence between the two men. They returned to the heart of the cavern then Smith went to the clothing synthesizer and set about the order of clothing. The new comer huddled in the corner of the cavern away from Will right after he had guided them to a chair.

"She looks quite banged up." Smith said. "And covered in shrapnel."

"Sacrifice, Doctor Smith?" Will asked.

"I am thinking that she was sent here." Smith replied. "By complete happenstance."

"Do people end up naked getting here when they get here that way?" Will asked.

"Most of the time." Smith said. "I arrived here in the clothing that I died in."

"So I see." Will said.

"I will make them some tea." Smith whisked by Will to the water processor unit.

Will approached the newcomer then crouched down to their level.

"Hi." Will said. "My name is Will Robinson. Yours?"

"Rovin." Rovin replied.

"Hello Rovin." Will said. "Welcome to Hell." Will looked toward Smith then back on to Rovin. "My friend's Hell."

"Here, my dear." Smith replied then handed Rovin the tea cup. "What is your preferred pronoun?"

"She/her." Rovin said.

"Interesting." Will said. "Did your people throw you into Hell?"

"Vaha-sizka-veluoa." Rovin said. "Not my people. A group that I was part of."

"Are you a Vasikia, my dear girl?" Smith inquired.

"Yes." Rovin said.

"That explains it." Smith said.

"What is a Visikia?" Will asked.

"What she is." Smith said. "It is the name of her species."

"Not bad." Will said. 

" _But_ , the group that she is part of is the worst kind of satanic doomsday cult," Smith said as he handed Rovin a cup of tea then she started to drink from the cup. "They are trying to open a gateway to my Hell and extract one of their own."

"Ah, a rescue mission." Will said.

"A very dumb one." Smith replied.

"Why?" Will asked.

"They don't know that he is stuck in a eternally erupting Volcano on the other side of the planet." Smith said.

"Well, how can anyone know what a given person's Hell really is?" Will said. "Sounds like they are very determined."

"I haven't seen any of them since the season started," Smith admitted. "Normally, they keep sending people and struggle to contain a long enough connection to them to find him." Smith grimaced at the loss of life. Smith winced at how they had forced him to take him there with/without being told of the predicament. "With what my life has created, they get killed in the most sinister ways and it isn't innocent how they meet their demise. It's dark, it's ugly, it's a nightmare. In some of the tunnels and above; they force me to go down paths . . ."

"And die horribly as you have said."

Smith nodded then looked toward Rovin.

"So, my dear Rovin, were you sent here for Karkosh-lash?"

"No." Rovin said. "I sent myself here to end the cycle. I . . ."

"Did some sabotage." Will said.

"And that is where the shrapnel comes from." Smith said.

"It was worth destroying the extractor." Rovin said.

"William, please get the mobile shower curtain and the railing. Set it up over there," he pointed toward the corner of the room with a long finger. "I will tend to her injuries."

Will did as he was requested and set the curtain up. He brought over a mobile table and two chairs without being asked by the older man. Smith assembled the equipment for the younger woman then checked for measurements and typed it into the machine. The woman was trembling beneath the blanket that provided warmth. Smith got up then went to the set up room and Will guided Rovin up then guided her into the room. He stepped aside once he set her in then closed the curtain.

"Do you regret it?" Smith asked.

Rovin looked up.

"Regret what?" Rovin asked.

"Destroying a entire facility, sabotaging a entire mission, and throwing yourself into the jaws of the unknown and Death."

Rovin shook her head.

"I _know_ where he is. We got your message, Doctor Smith." Rovin said. "The others did---"

"Do you or do you not is a simple question, my dear." Smith cut her off.

"I do not." Rovin said.

And Smith tended to her wounds without any further comments.

* * *

It was morning when the Chariot arrived to the scene and Robot was silent as he loomed over the area that was scorched. As if Robot had been desperately finding at it for hours on end leaving a crater behind. John helped Maureen down then jogged toward the panting machine who turned toward them as he panted. 

"The. . the. . the. . . the. . ." Robot started to say. "the entrance is gone."

And Robot hunched over with the last sap of power.

"Maureen, let's unhook Robot and lift him one piece at a time back inside the Chariot."

Maureen looked on worried toward the crater then back toward Robot and nodded back to John. 


	8. Unknown to known

"We have to bring her back to her home planet." Will said.

"How are we going to do that?" Smith asked. "The door rarely appears."

"I know of a door, Doctor Smith." Will said.

"You do?" Smith asked.

"It won't close until I go through it." Will said.

"At least it is better than my way." Smith replied.

"What is your way?" Will asked.

"I send them into the power core and let God sort them out to the land of the living." Smith said.

"Really?" Will's brows hunched together a tilt of his head.

"It is better than. . . than . . ." Smith looked aside, wincing, at the prior torture. "how I have told you."

"Alright." Will said.

Smith went to the uniform synthesizer taking out a pure white uniform and boots. 

"William, please hand this over to Rovin." Smith said.

"I will do my best."

Smith looked over, longingly, toward the machine that generated sweet tea. Will went to the curtain then slipped the uniform down the curtain. The younger man stood up to his feet then went over to the table as Smith folded the heavy blanket then slipped it back into the backpack.

They waited a few minutes for the young woman to get changed then exit and close the curtain behind her. She took a few steps forward approaching the men with her hands on her shoulders rubbing on them up and down.

"I am indebted to you." Rovin said.

"My dear friend has a way back out of here that is less extreme than how I sent the others back to the land of the living." Smith said. "He can be your guide if you like."

Rovin's gaze shifted toward Will then back toward Smith.

"I feel more safer if you were part of the entourage." Rovin said. "If you refuse to go then so do I."

"Looks like you have to go with us back outside, Doctor Smith." Will grinned.

"Oh, the pain. The pain." Smith lifted his eyes up looking toward the ceiling then sighed lowered his gaze. "William, do you have enough rations for a two party trip?"

"I can pack some additional water." Will said.

"Then pack it." Smith replied then turned toward the mouth of the cavern that lead on toward the uncertain fog. "I will return with a large and very fat dead rat should we be delayed in getting to the door at all."

"Do you need help with that?" Will asked in a low voice, joining the older man's side and put a hand on his shoulder just as he was about to enter the fog.

Smith turned toward the younger man.

"My dear boy, Rovin needs company." Smith whispered.

"And you don't, Doctor Smith?" Will tilted his head.

"I don't bleed. She does." Smith went over then retrieved a weapon from the weapon rack and returned it to him. "You be her guard."

Will looked up from the laser rifle.

"Be a guard?" Will said. "I can try my best."

"She is all alone and doesn't know who to call friend." The men looked toward the younger woman who's hands were in the pockets of the dress.

"Oh." Will said. "Kind of like you in the beginning?"

"The more time that you spend around her and get to know her, she will start calling you a acquaintance over a stranger." Smith nodded as he replied to the younger man. "And maybe, just maybe," He shook his index finger from side to side. "Once, we get to the door this young lady will trust you enough to go through the doorway to Hell and go home."

Will's attention turned off Rovin with a small smile on toward Smith.

"She would." Will whispered with a nod of agreement.

"Good," Smith said. "I will be back very shortly."

Smith walked into the smog filled area of the cavern that Will watched him blend into becoming a figure cloaked by his own shadow and the fog that thickened by each passing minute walking on ahead of him. Will turned away from the opening of the exit into the tunnels facing the direction of Rovin then sat down alongside her.

"Tell me, what is the name of your planet?"

"Vas-sil'ik."

"Mine is called Earth."

"Beautiful name."

"It's a simple name."

"What does it mean?"

"Earth?"

"Yes, Earth."

"It means terra. Ground. Land. Dirt. Rock. Sand."

"Vas-sil'ick means the creatures of the sand dwelling place."'

"That's a sentence instead of just a word."

"Why do you need a word to mean what your planet is?"

Will paused a few moments then smiled turning his attention upon the older woman.

"Because you can't describe life in a paragraph or a beacon of hope in a sentence." Will proceeded to explain. "One word can have more meaning than you could possibly imagine. Like say, the planet I was relocated to: Gamma."

"And where is Gamma?"

"In the Alpha Centauri system."

"And your Earth is?"

"In the Solar System. It's a very simplistic name. But the best one that we got since Earth is unaware of many other systems and their names." Will shrugged then leaned back into the chair. "What is your system called?"

"Vaz-vaz kalthunkuk." Rovin said, softly.

"What does that mean?" Will asked. "In standard."

"The center of the home of the lizard ground monsters." Rovin smiled in return as Will's brows briefly rose then lowered quite fascinated. "It was a name bestowed upon us by the Gods."

"Sounds pretty." Will said.

"Yours is more . . ."

"More prettier?" Will asked.

"Rounded." Rovin said earning a smirk from the younger man.

"We did name the system ourselves." Will said. "Your solar system name sounds a lot to be desired coming from a Earthling."

"You think so?" Rovin asked.

"I know so." Will nodded with a smile then went over, typed into the processor unit, then took out a space cup with tea. "So, monarchy?"

"A very treasured and beloved one." Rovin replied. "Endearing, but, sometimes too stupid for their own good."

Will was in the middle of drinking when he started to laugh and dropped the cup on to the arm rest as some of the contents came squirting out of his nose. Rovin laughed then so did Will. Rovin picked up a napkin then handed it over to the younger man and he wiped off what remained of the tea off his face as he kept on laughing. They were this way for roughly a hour until the older man returned through the entrance carrying a large rodent upside down.

"I am back with lunch!" Smith announced over their laughter.

Will and Rovin were on the edge of tears upon his arrival and their laughter turned to giggles that slowly faded away.

"What did you catch?" Rovin asked.

"A werewolf mouse. But, the alien kind." Smith said. "It howls after a kill so it is very easy to find it during a hunt."

Smith chucked the corpse into a entrance hole of the advanced food processor as the machine proceeded to be noisy preparing the meal to go. He pressed a button then the machine became even louder drawing the alarm of the two living mortals facing the direction of the older man. 

"This is the fountain over here." Smith gestured to a gauge set above a closed off pipe and buckets beside him with several canteens by his side then walked off. "Be my guest, William."

"Sure glad I packed several hooks!"

Will came to the fountain then extracted water at a time into the several canteens as Smith placed the silver to go boxes into a small knapsack then strapped it along his shoulder. Smith handed Rovin googles and a new pair of clothing that was more suited to being in the desert.

Once Will was done with packing the additional water, Smith handed him the desert gear while donning his own pitch black desert gear. Will changed out of his colony uniform into the desert uniform that felt close to a little more modern of the era that he had left behind of Earth. Will tucked his clothing and Rovin's clothing cave clothing into the backpack then they began to make their way on out of the cavern into the cave system. 


	9. Certainty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did lag considerably on writing this story while playing Pokemon Shield. 
> 
> This was supposed to be a long aft chapter but. . . the story told me the rest of the scenes appeared in chapter 10 and so it came to be this way.

"Robot, we have had Doctor Carter check your programming matrix and protocols, and there is nothing wrong with you." John said. "I like you to explain what made you go a bit off the deep end."

"Will has gone to Hell." Robot announced.

Don sighed, his face crashing into his hand, then slid his hand up combing through his dark hair then lowered his hand down.

"Why would Will go to Hell?" Penny asked.

"He is a Geologist." Robot said.

"A Geologist wouldn't go to Hell." Don said.

"He is a explorer at heart, Lieutenant Colonel." Robot said.

"Point being, Robot, how are you sure those balls lead to Hell?" John spoke up.

"Before the stairway vanished, I had strong readings of electromagnetic energy and negative energy coming from it." Robot explained. "And my previous scanning of the electric vehicle indicated that Will had taken the marbles with him."

"Did he know?" Maureen asked.

"Of where it leads," Robot said. "I am certain that he did."

"We will have to wait until Will returns and confirms what your sensors have told you." John said. 

"If he does not return in one week?" Robot asked.

"Then we will search for him and use the marbles that we hadn't gathered." John said. "On that thought; how about we go on a Easter Egg hunt for that tomorrow morning?" He shifted his attention upon the family at the galley. "Who is in it?"

One by one, the family raised their hand up.

"I wouldn't mind." Judy said. "Been some time since we had some fun."

"A long time." Penny agreed.

* * *

The group walked on through the terrain heading on in their protective desert gear as a desert storm plagued through them. Instead of lagging behind him, as he had once done so many years ago, he was in the lead undetered by the winds brushing against him with strong force. The group were kept together by a long strip of rope that bound them to keep going on among the landscape.

Finally, the group came to a recess and breathing sigh of reliefs. They stripped out of their desert gear and chucked it to the side into a neat pile. When Will looked back to it after changing; it was gone.

They took several drinks of the canteens with Smith resting under a shade provided by a cliff with his hands in his lap. The duo ate their meal preparing for the rest of the journey and rested under the cliff for a short while. The thirst awoke the couple as Smith was pacing back and forth ahead of them. The mortals drunk gulps of water then resumed their trek with Smith in the lead.

* * *

Robot slipped out of the Jupiter 2 late at night and wheeled to the destination that the professor had deemed to be a natural reserve as part of the Family program. He collected a small marble then returned to the crater where he had last detected the stairway.

Robot was about to throw it when--

"Robot, what are you doing?"

Robot twirled toward Penny.

"I am going after Will."

Penny nodded as if she had anticipated it.

"I thought that was what you were going to do." She folded her arms. "Did you really think that you were going to get out alone?"

Robot looked aside, advanced sensors out, anticipating the rest of the family to show up out of the shadows.

"I came alone." Penny said. "I brought laser pistols for Will and I in whatever that he has got himself into this time."

"This could be a Doctor Smith trouble." Robot admitted.

"Then we will face it as a group." Penny said. "Throw it."

Robot chucked it to the ground and a stairway appeared before them that became a flat surface.

"This way." Robot said.

Robot and Penny descended down the steep hill side by side. Penny looked around in disgust to the surroundings around them as they came to a pause at the end of the staircase. Robot wheeled forward ahead of Penny so she went after him. Robot clacked a claw against the gate summoning the gatekeeper to stare at them.

"We are here to provide aid to Will Robinson." Robot said. "He is in the presence of Doctor Zachary Smith."

"Machines are not allowed long in hell. And this young woman doesn't belong here, either."

"But we are, regardless." Robot said. "We belong waiting here for them."

"Return to where you come from, Earth woman, your sibling should be here any moment now."

"I want to help him." Penny said. "I am not leaving without knowing how i can help."

"Only one mortal who is well aware of where they are going is allowed per marble. And you don't know where you're going to." Penny frowned at the reply that she was given. "You're disqualified, Miss Robinson."

"I know Hell what is supposed to be," Penny said. "It is hard, it is painful, it is horrifying, and it is sad. I know what I am getting into. Will is a living person. Doctor Smith isn't."

"You wish to help to regardless lays ahead of you." the gate keeper said.

"I do want to help." Penny confirmed.

The gate keeper looked toward Robot.

"Penny, I may not come back." Robot said.

"Why are you so certain of that, Robot?" Penny asked.

"It has only been a month being at my position and I despise it." Robot said.

"I thought you loved your position." Penny said.

"The GUNTER model chaos is giving me a headache!" Robot exclaimed. "A processor ache, I mean." Robot bobbed his helm down. "Hell must be less worse than how it is up there." Robot pointed a claw up toward the surface.

"No, Robot." Penny shook her head as Robot slunk his claw into his chassis. "It has to be worse than what is going on up there."

"I doubt that." Robot said.

"If you are going to where you think is Doctor Smith's Hell. . ." Penny replied. "It will be full of chaos."

"Negative." Robot replied. "It will be full of trouble and full of stupid things only Doctor Smith is capable of."

"Daddy won't be happy that you left against his orders." Penny said.

"I need a break from GUNTER model chaos." Robot said. "This is just a vacation."

"Vacations aren't a few hours long, Robot." Penny said.

"I have a very distinctive feeling in my processors that we may not return just that soon," Robot said.

"Do you still want to go and help your brother?" the gate keeper asked.

Penny wrapped the laser pistol belt along her waist and nodded.

"This way," The gate keeper gestured toward a caged booth. "Just slide in and I will transport you somewhere you can meet up with him; soon."

They strolled into the booth, turned around, faced the gatekeeper who pulled the leveler then Robot and Penny vanished in a puff of smoke within the transport booth.

* * *

The trio restarted their journey taking breaks like these throughout the passing hours heading toward the destination in mind. Will and Rovin took sips during the long trip to the door. Smith grinned under the alien characteristics observing how long the very alive duo were being kept behind him. It was all going just as he had anticipated.

"We're almost there, my dear boy!"

"Slow down, Doctor Smith!" Will called with a laugh.

"I have never been happier in my life!" Smith exclaimed, cheerfully.

"He is fast for his age," Rovin remarked.

"Rovin, aging is part of the organic process. He is not quite organic. He is a soul. Souls are faster than carbon units."

"Right," Rovin chuckled. "They are."

Smith turned his attention away as he took a step forward then his foot met thin air. His eyes flashed open as proceeded to fall down out of their line of sight and shrieked.

"Doctor Smith!"

Will charged into the den for the older man with Rovin close behind him and she picked up the older man's improvised rodent catcher stick.

"He dropped it." Rovin said as Will paled.

"Stick behind me." Will said.

"Don't mind if I do." Rovin followed Will down the tunnel then they started to rush over Smith's shrieks.

Will ran on taking the spear that had been handed to him by Rovin and came to find Smith being viciously attacked by a alien covered in horns, spikes, and naturally grown armor. Smith let out a death cry then was thrown against the wall and hit the ground with a yelp. The yelp was enough to draw Will's attention. The creature came over to the older man then began to rip open his uniform and the fine long claws left long incisions that deepened with each blow until skin was forced to be opened as Will came into action as a switch in his brain changed from retrieve mode into attack mode. The creature's claw struck into the exposed torso then flew out and returned inside

Will screamed then charged after the alien and thrust the spear forward. The creature smacked their powerful arm against the man's chest knocking him back against the floor and returned their attention on to Smith's moving figure with his organs in his torso exposed and was missing a few notably. Will's eyes saw only red staring at the man who wasn't trying to flee or run away as he used to; in fact, he was waiting for the end of the inevitable as if it were part of his existence -- a routine that terrified him -- from the very beginning of existing.

" **No**!"

Will lunged on to the beast and stabbed into the vulnerable sections around the creature's thorny spikes. The creature batted at Will knocking him away causing him to land on the ground against the wall with a hard thud. Rovin picked up a large rock then threw it at the creature. The creature shifted their attention toward Rovin then began to approach the Vasikia with a growl.

"Come here, mass of metal!" Rovin cried.

Smith's wounds began to slowly heal as Rovin picked up another rock and threw it at the creature's face then the creature rumbled as they charged toward her. Will picked up a sharp stone then leaped on to the creature's back and proceeded to hit the creature's head that had a partially vulnerable part.

Liquid appeared on the sharp half of the blade leaving a large gash behind as Will clung to the sharp edges of the creature. The creature reached their arm behind their head and grasped on to Will's figure then smacked him down right in to their path.

With a grunt, Will slid himself up then was struck by the creature's large arm covered in spikes which wounded him digging into his uniform including on to his chest quite hard. 

"Get him out of here!"

Rovin nodded then grabbed the catatonic older man by the ankles and yanked him carefully out of the cavern with his arms being dragged behind him. Rovin vanished out of the cave entrance as Will attacked the creature once moved and jabbed into the sensitive soft and delicate skin with the rock.

Will was jabbed in the shoulder then smacked against the wall with a cry. He collapsed to his side then lifted himself up to his feet picking up a large and long piece of rock that bore similarities to a club. He came in the way of the tunnel that lead out in defiance. 

The creature shrieked once being struck by lightning that sprouted out of now here and the sounds of laser pistol firing and a familiar deep cry, "Destroy alien life form!".

"Robot?"

Will looked over spotting two figures coming out of the fog side by side being that of Robot and Penny.

"Penny!"

Penny was pressing the trigger multiple times sending the creature stalking back away from Will.

"Are you okay, Will?" Penny asked as she fired on the creature that start to approach them once more.

"I--I took all of the marbles with me." Will said, dumbfounded. "How did you get here?"

"You and daddy didn't get all of them." Penny said. "Are you h--" Her eyes flashed open as he started to falter then swung his arm along her shoulder and proceeded to guide him up. "Let's get you to safety."

"I will carry on the defense, Penny!" Robot announced. 

Penny slipped the laser pistol into the laser pistol holster then went up the tunnel with Robot tagging behind them. The group came toward a collection of boulders that made a platform that formed a temple kept above the ground level. Rovin left Smith on the floor as she waved them over then gasped at the creature chasing after them. Will and Penny went up the steps but Robot remained behind.

"You okay, Rovin?"

"Yes," Rovin glanced toward Penny. "Who is she?"

"My sister." Will said as he used a boulder as his support.

"Penny Robinson." Penny shook Rovin's hand. "Alien or demon?"

"I am a alien just as you are to me." Rovin said.

Will collapsed near a boulder alongside Penny.

* * *

"William!"

Maureen bolted up with a start with sweat pouring down her skin, panting, terrified.

"Maureen, it's alright." John said, leaning up, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We're safe."

Maureen shook her head then the door to their cabin slipped open by intrigued members of the family.

"Is everything okay in there?" Don asked. 

"Everything is alright," John said. "She just had a bad nightmare."

"Sounds like the worst one that she has had in the last five years." Judy said. "The last time you had those; father and Don were out in space searching for the duetronium bank robbers."

"Everything is fine now." Maureen said. "Go back to bed. I am better."

Don closed the door to their cabin then walked off as Maureen relaxed in the bed alongside John.

"What kind of nightmare did you have, darling?" John asked.

"I had the most bizarre nightmare, John." Maureen said.

"Tell me about it, darling." John said, cupping the side of his face with one hand, set beside her on the master bed.

"Doctor Smith was there." Maureen said. She looked off distant as John became concerned. "Briefly. He was hurt. A little more hurt than Will was."

"How hurt was Smith?"

"Very hurt." Maureen said. "And he wasn't making a sound as he were being attacked."

She closed her eyes in disgust then went on the contents of the nightmare as John fell disturbed at the relay.

"Robot and Penny joined Will in Hell providing back up as he escaped a cavern with Will and some stranger." She had a difficult sigh. "Then once they were safe; Will collapsed."

John somber demeanor was replaced by a grin.

"Maureen," John put a hand on her shoulder. "Just a nightmare."

Maureen smiled looking back toward her partner. 

"Only a nightmare." Maureen said. "Too dark to be real. Too vivid to be real. Too. . . detailed to be a vision." Maureen squeezed John's hand. "It's all okay."

They slipped back into the arms of darkness and rest holding on to each other as the nightmare fell away from Maureen.


	10. Change my mind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The calling -wherever you will go song helped start this story of Will going after Smith as a muse. Credit to my random brain throwing images at me and letting me sort out the story. Will argued against leaving Doctor Smith very dead at the end of the previous storyline so this story came to be.

Penny watched as the wounds on the figure that was dressed the same way that Doctor Smith had been healed her eyes over a matter of five minutes. Robot stood guard at the stairway leading up to their little throne platform. It was strange to watch wounds heal that quickly before her eyes. It was at if she were watching a time lapse of recovery when it wasn't quite the fact.

Abruptly, once the wounds wounds had vanished off his torso, the older man bolted up awake with a startled shriek. He fell back to the ground and heaved a sigh of relief. Penny loomed over the older man.

"Doctor Smith?" Penny asked. "Is that you?"

"Yes, I am he." Smith replied with a head tilt. "Who might you be?"

"Silly, it's me, Penny." Penny laughed then she smiled down upon him. "Forgotten what I look like already?"

Penny leaned back as Smith lunged forward then whirred toward her as recognition fell upon him.

"Penelope?" Smith exclaimed as his antennas raised. "Penelope Robinson?"

"Who I have always been." Penny said. "You look really different."

"So do you, my dear child." Smith replied, smiling fondly, placing his hands on the side of her shoulders. "Why in the heaven's did you bother coming here?" The happiness making his eyes sparkle was replaced by concern. "How did you come here? You look so grown from how I had last seen you."

"Will had been gone for long awhile." Penny said.

"It's only been three days, Penny." Will said. "Not three years."

"And Robot made a crater at where Will left his transport vehicle when daddy found him." Penny said.

"Oh, that would about do it in ringing alarm bells." Will said.

"And I followed Robot down to Hell once he found a key to it and we decided to help you." Penny said.

"You left without telling anyone?" Will asked.

"Everyone was fast asleep." Penny replied.

Will slipped the backpack off.

"I packed some clothing while you were taking care of Rovin." Will said. "Rovin, open the backpack, the clothing should be on the top."

"How generous of you, William." Smith replied, after a long moment of silence. "It seems this is quickly becoming a family outing."

"You mean a family adventure, Doctor Smith." Penny said with a small chuckle.

"Who is next, your father? The major?" Smith asked.

"I don't think so if we are going to get out of here." Will said.

Smith hid behind a tall boulder and changed into his new clothing. Smith returned then dropped the clump of clothing to the ground. The older man looked on grimly to the area ahead of them as Penny noticed that he were donned in a complete white uniform variation of the Jupiter 2 uniform. His bright blue eyes landed on the members of the group then back up toward the doorway that wasn't quite far.

"I will distract the creature long enough for you to make the sprint to the doorway." Smith said. "You should make it safe and sound to your family with all things considered." Smith picked up the spear that had been dropped then squinted at the creature ahead of them and Will glared in defiance toward the older man. "I should be able to evade the creature's claws if I fought against it."

"Doctor Smith, I am _still_ a stubborn ninny." Will said.

Smith turned his attention off the creature from afar as his eyes flashed open.

"What did you just say?" Smith asked.

"If you're not leaving then I am staying." Will folded his arms.

"Then so am I." Rovin agreed.

Smith sighed, annoyed, briefly closing his eyes.

"William, this isn't something you can walk out of alive." Smith's eyes flashed open as he faced the younger man. "Not if the likes of you as a mortal coil linger around longer than necessary in Hell."

"I admit to that." Will said.

He looked down toward the wound that was partially exposed by the tear in the dark uniform. He slipped off his backpack to his side, took out the medical kit, slipped it open, and began to treat the injuries clumsily.

"Let a doctor do that!"

Smith smacked the younger man's hand away from the wound then proceeded to treat it without as much as touching the wound with his fingers. The cotton balls were dipped in liquid then pressed against the wounds that became sterilized. Smith dipped some of the rationed water on the cotton swabs then cleaned off the blood from the uniform. He slipped it into the small vial and placed it into the medical kit.

"Alright," Smith said. "I will only help you out of Hell and to the land of the living. Is that enough?"

"That's more than enough, Doctor Smith." Will said.

"Excellent." Smith said.

"Will, your friend!" Penny cried. 

The men turned their attention off each other toward the direction of Rovin.

"Rovin!" Will called.

"Run!" Rovin hollered.

"I'll get her---"

"No, I will." Penny took the laser pistol from his hand. "You get out of here."

"The door will close if I go through it." Will said.

"Then the ninny and I will wait outside of the door for you two." Smith said. "I will get the arrangements started to send you home."

"Great!" Will said. "Let's go."

The group split into two with Will, Robot, and Smith going toward the doorway. The older man was the first member to go through with Robot tailing behind him. Will used the long catching stick to help him stand watching his sister chase after the creature and step back firing after it. The creature staggered back then fell into a large hole with a shriek that echoed. Rovin took Penny's outstretched hand then ran in the direction of the younger man beckoning them on.

The group flew through the doorway leaving Will behind. Will took one last glance into the Hell that they had spent some time in then grinned and waved back at it. Will lunged through the doorway then fell into the arms of the waiting group. The door closed loudly behind them. Penny and Will hugged each other as Smith and Robot were set from across being divided from each other by Rovin's presence.

"Did you find what you were seeking for?" The gate keeper asked.

"We did." Will replied.

"Just about everything." Penny agreed with a smile.

"As did I." Robot said.

"Can I be transported down to the heart of my residence?" Smith inquired. "I have already set up their return to the living. That is the last order of business."

"Can we visit from time to time?" Penny asked.

"Can we?" Will asked.

"If you return with a marble then you will die and you will never come out of Hell." The gatekeeper elaborated.

"But, I get to be where I want." Will said.

"Yes, you do." The gatekeeper confirmed.

"William, that would be committing suicide!" Smith said. "Just to visit me. I am not worth that kind of never ending visit."

"Then I will make sure I don't have to return." Will said. "What is it that you did that makes you think you deserve to be in Hell of all places?"

"I . . ." Smith couldn't start. "I. . ." He turned away in shame, cowardly, sulking. "I. . ."

"Doctor Smith, I am not leaving without that answer." Will said.

"Neither are we." Robot and Penny chimed.

"When I said I was doing some checking, I was lying." Smith began.

"Is that all?" Will frowned. "That stupid silly thing? I thought you regretted the space destructors but this tops the cake."

Smith's figure trembled as he rolled his eyes up then turned toward Will with a sigh and began to reply quite calmly.

"I was sabotaging Robot to go on a rampage and kill you all." Smith began to explain with a wave of his hand. "I got a _little_ carried away and forgetful on some supplementary programming on getting the task done."

Will mentally relived the first few hard months, the first winter, the first time they chased after ostriches, the first time they planted a hydroponic garden with his siblings help in the endeavor and losing it as the soil became unfavorable after the winter for any further attempts on replanting a garden. Penny and Robot were the least to be phased as Rovin was resting in a chair drinking tea.

"The first few months of trying to leave the planet and get you all killed while at it; _yes_ , that was all intentional." Smith confirmed with one fell swoop then stressed at the next word. "Initially."

Smith recoiled, bracing himself, for what he expected to be a verbal lashing as the younger man stared at him incredulously.

"You, expect me, to believe you sabotaged Robot." Will said.

"I did." Smith said.

"What about all the times that you were terrible with technology?" Will folded his arms looking upon the older man.

"That was a act to convince you I wasn't capable of sabotage." Smith replied.

"Did you really have a Uncle Thaddus?" Penny asked.

"I did have a Uncle Thaddus." Smith said, grimly. "Died a several years before the mission. Long before Great Aunt Maude."

"What about the time that you were given a big sum of money by Don to do the exact same thing and declined to his face about it?" Will asked.

Smith winced at the reminder by Will.

"His price was a little too low to sabotage a doomsday ship that had very delicate, intricate, and very out of my league programming that would have destroyed your home and the person performing the sabotage!" Smith explained. "They weren't joking when they said it self-explodes, William, upon being tampered."

Will frowned looking upon the older man, curious, than anything.

"How do you know?" Will asked.

Smith tapped his fingers together as he looked back.

"The ninny and I did a simulation before Racoda approached us and . . ." Smith cleared his throat. "Things didn't end well in that hypothetical." He winced at the mention of it. "If it were a little higher---"

"Like say, trillions." Will said.

" _Then_ I would have done it." Smith nodded. "That is what a life is worth."

"I see." Will said, softer.

"The radiation would have killed you as you had the habit of coming after me back then if I had done it."

"So going after you were returning their gift all those years ago. . . " Will said. "Were you going to try doing it when everyone was asleep?"

"Yes." Smith said.

"The fact that Penny and I came after you and Robot changed your mind." Will added as Penny felt her heart leap into her throat.

Smith nodded, grimly, confirming the younger man's comment as Penny looked on toward him; horrified. If they never came after him, they would have lost him and never found out regarding the whereabouts of his shell long after Will recovered from the wound.

"The price was not worth accepting to his face." Smith said, simply. "There was one situation that would work in our favor." He held his shaking index finger up. "Just one."

Smith lowered his hand into his lap then walked away and lowered his head with a sigh.

"A simple lift off from the planet that the Jupiter 2 on." Smith said. "The crew of the doomsday ship thinking I was going along to what they wanted."

He lifted his head up sorrowfully back at what could have been the least painful and preferable way to go. He lowered his head as his shoulders lowered with a exhale.

"Your family under the impression that I accepted to be the representative of the alien crew for Earth with promised riches." Smith began to conclude the recollection. He turned aside, partially shifting toward Will, regretful of the choice. "It was the only way to stop the craft from going on and destroying another civilization with ease as their hologram had shown."

Smith sighed then looked down toward the younger man.

"Doctor Smith, I have always known about your hand in getting my family off course." 

Smith turned toward Will as his bright blue eyes flashed open at a loss of words (at first) and shocked then scowled as he folded his arms. 

"You can't have possibly known this entire time." Smith argued back.

"I mean, I have always suspected . . ."

"We have always suspected." Penny agreed. "And it did become concerning to see you change that way."

"But we knew the answer why in our hearts." Will pointed toward his chest. "I have been waiting for almost ten years to hear you admit that you regret it."

"My personal HELL doesn't count as a regret!" Smith's voice strained in the reply.

"You're miserable and hating it at every chance you have." Will said. "I have seen regret on your face every step of the way to the shelter and back here."

"Because I got your family lost in space and only Lord knows where they are!" Smith finally cracked.

Will and Penny looked upon the older man in bemusement.

"That's where you're wrong, Doctor Smith." Penny said.

"Hmm, what?" Smith asked.

"Earth knows here, Hell---" Will gestured toward the area around them. "knows, heaven knows." Will laughed as he stretched his arms out. "I know where we are!"

Smith was almost to frightened to ask, but, the question came out, "Where?"

"Gamma, Alpha Centauri system." Will replied. "We have been there for the last five years."

"Last FIVE YEARS!" Smith leaned back from the shock as his eyes flashed open.

"Yep, five years." Will watched the older man seat down then take out a bag that was handed and blew into it. "Took us almost two years just to get there after you died." 

"What . . . What year is it up there?"

"2007." Penny and Will replied.

Smith shook his head.

"You spent two years in space without the Jupiter--"

"No." Penny cut him off. "Just a few days."

"What about the two years?" Smith asked.

"We spent almost two years on Earth waiting for dad and Don." Smith raised his head up in bewilderment as his eyes flashed open. "They spent those last two years chasing the bank robbers and bringing them to justice."

Smith closed his eyes turning away from the younger man, regretful.

"But, those two years were worth the wait, Doctor Smith." Will said. "I got to meet up with my grandparents and my old Earth friends."

Smith's blue eyes opened as he shifted toward the younger man and young woman.

"Pleasant reunions were there?" Smith grew a small smile.

"I guess so." Will shrugged.

"You guess so?" Smith frowned as his brows furrowed together.

"Truth is, Doctor Smith, everything is a blur after you died." Will shook his head as the older man raised his head up. "It's like there is a fog that has finally lifted recently."

"I didn't realize being gone for that long would hurt you that dearly." Smith said. "You strike me as the person who moves on easily."

"It did." Will said. "You are not the kind of person who gets grieved over easily. . . Sure, we were awake for the five years." Will shrugged off the number as though it were just a number not a fact. "It's better to be awake and react to life than being asleep and unresponsive."

"I can't forgive myself for what I did." Smith shook his head then started to walk off looking back at what he had done. "I feel that I never will."

"That's your answer?" Will asked.

"Always will be." Smith said then looked over toward Penny. 

"Why don't you want to live, Doctor Smith?" Will asked. "Dad will make sure that you get to Earth in the next Jupiter that has to get Earth."

"William, I have done things. . . Many things. . . Many things before I came into your orbit." Smith said. "Earth is out of the picture." He briefly closed his eyes. "May already know and. . . or. . . suspect the truth. If they ask, I will confirm it." He cleared his throat with a tremble. "As is Alpha Centauri off the table."

"But, why?" Penny asked. "Why is Alpha Centauri out of the picture? We need plenty of doctors."

Smith sighed as he closed his eyes and shook his head with a wince. _Not this one_ , Smith thought.

"In fact, all the doctors that Gamma can get." Will added.

Smith opened his eyes lifting his head up toward the younger man and younger woman. 

"Penelope, William. . . " Smith said. "Coming back to life is hard to take in and hard to trust they are who they say they are. After burial, after being on the record, after watching their body--"

"Doctor Smith," Penny said. "We buried your hand and that was it."

"We didn't really watch your body be put underground." Will continued.

"Daddy and mommy will believe that you are who you say you are." Penny said.

"I look different." Smith pointed out. "The major has a habit of being suspicious."

"He is a Lieutenant Colonel now." Penny said. "Dad married Don and Judy last week."

"Exactly what he deserves." Smith said, proudly but fondly.

"Doctor Smith if you act just as who you are, he won't be suspicious of you." Will said.

"Kids like us get into trouble all the time with the equipment, wildlife, and sports." Penny went on her earlier comment. "For example, Will and I got stuck in the Dillies's barbed fence instead of a force field generator when we were out jogging a week ago at night. Daddy gave them a firm talking to so they recycled the material for a force field generator."

"I don't recall that." Will said.

Penny lifted her pant leg up to her knees and the scars were apparent.

"You are the worst person to be on autopilot, Will." Penny said. "It was your idea to race at all."

"It won't happen any time in the future for a second time." Will said.

"And the doctors were inexperienced with it." Penny said. "Acted as if they never did that kind of operation."

"Never operated on barbed wire?" Smith asked. "Never have been needed to operate on the strange and peculiar in people's bodies? How preposterous!"

"And I feel like they forgot a piece right here--"

"Don't you dare touch that." Smith guided Penny over to a chair then beckoned her to sit down.

"What do you need me to do, Doctor Smith?" Penny asked.

"Keep your leg up and don't consider moving it." Smith replied.

Smith took out a clipper then clutched on to the silver piece and slid it out to reveal it wasn't just a small piece but a long piece of wire.

"Ah." Smith grinned at first holding it up. "There!"

Smith dropped the piece to the table and put away the clipper on to the table where he had found it as his composure changed in a matter of seconds with a look of intent replacing his joyful demeanor.

"William, give her a band-aid." Smith sounded so calm that it was unlike him and serious. Will did as he was asked by the older man then stepped back as she let down her black pant leg. "Give me the names of the people who did that with your leg opened up."

"Doctor Fellup, Nurse Candy, Nurse Carter," Penny said. "They were the ones who told me that the pain that might feel would go away."

"And did it?" Smith asked.

Penny shook her head then smiled, widely, in return.

"But, it's gone now." Penny shrugged. "All better."

"I will be doing a complete retraining of the medical staff." Smith started to explain. "It will require using the most abandoned Jupiter as a two storeyed hospital and turning residential deck of the hospital into a emergency room, the upper decks into a surgical room, a strict rule on regarding caring for patients."

He tapped on his fingers mentioning the required material as Will and Penny stared to grin.

"And that will start _after_ we get to Gamma from the long trip." Smith finished. 

"What long trip?" The children asked.

"I set the destination to her world." Smith gestured toward Rovin.

"Excuse me, doctor." The gate keeper said. "Do you have any jewels, any prized possessions, to pay for returning to the land of the living?"

"I have my memories." Smith said.

"That is part of your soul and Hell already owns that." The gate keeper said.

"How about I sell mine?" Will offered.

"No." was the unanimous reply from the group.

"Not even a little bit?" Will asked.

"You can't sell a little bit of your soul, Will." Penny said. "A soul is a soul."

"Affirmative." Robot said. "There is no such thing as a little bit when it regards that very precious thing."

"William, my _very_ dear boy. . " Smith started. "Tell your father of this malpractice by Doctor Fellup."

"I will." Will nodded.

Smith turned toward the gate keeper then asked, "Can I see them out?"

"That is allowable." The gate keeper confirmed with a nod.

"I will see you out and that is it, my dear children." Smith said.

"Here is your transport marbles." the gatekeeper returned the marble that Will had tossed earlier then the younger man put it back. "Good-bye, Robinsons, Robinson Robot, Rovin -- daughter of Czechia, daughter of Luvjin, son of Karlu, son of Isabella, daughter of Rekovielzu--"

"Stop, please, you're embarrassing me." Rovin said. "Drop the formalities. It will take you hours to continue."

"Are you a royal, Rovin?" Will asked.

" . . . No. I am related to them. I am at the very bottom." Rovin said. "Don't matter in the slightest to the monarchy."

"Let's go then." Penny said.

Robot and the Robinsons went up the hill leading further away from the ground floor of hell. Smith was able to spot that it were dark ahead of them where they were headed with few constellations that stood out against the dark blue canvas. The figures of the trees stood out against the constellation as dark shadows standing out in the bleakness of it all. Cool air descended upon the group as they went further toward the doorway.

Smith came to the edge of the exit then watched as the group made their way out the doorway then turned back toward the area below him with a grimace.

Smith turned back toward the bottom of Hell.

"Come along, Doctor Smith." Will said with a tinge of amusement. 

Smith was yanked out of the stairway by Will's hand to be greeted by pain from every part of his soul and body with a cry. A explosion from behind knocked him away as the members of the group yelped as they, too, were thrown out of the stairway. Robot crashed into a tree dangling up side down with his arms lingering out of the chassis and his helm lowered. The women were scattered about the landscape unconscious as was Will. Smith crashed to the ground with a thud.

"Oh, dear Heavens." Smith groaned, lifting himself up, putting a hand on his head. "My delicate back and precious head."

Smith's eyes flashed open.

"My head is aching." Smith shouted. "My head is aching! My head is aching!"

Smith crawled over to the nearest body of water and stared at himself.

"No. . No. . no, it can't be. It mustn't be!"

Smith's blue eyes flashed open even wider staring down in horror at his face that he started to feel with his hand telling him that it were real.

"OH NO! Oh no! Oh no!" Smith wailed. "It is. It is! IT IS!"

His antennas were replaced by strangely bent horns and forehead facial horns.

What had once been a long line of fur had became bone material masking over his nose. His green and orange skin was now orange and red scales. Smith looked down toward his hand finding that it looked smaller than it did before. However, his fingers weren't the same. His fingers were long and demonic not rounded and human.

Smith howled in dismay as he ran into the nearest forest, panicked, and horribly frightened. 

Will regained consciousness then lifted himself up from the grass watching the man become a distant shrieking specter. 

_Everything is going to be alright_ , _Doctor Smith_ , Will thought then fainted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Don West deserves a promotion for being lost and putting up with Smith in any canon au fic I write. IT IS WHAT HE DESERVES.


End file.
